


A Love Story (Starring You and Me)

by myheroesrbands



Series: BakodaFleetWeek 2020 [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: BakodaFleetWeek, Bakodafleetweek 2020, Dancing, F/M, Fluff, M/M, and height difference, flufffest omg, i mean..., if you can't tell i am anti northern water tribe, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25682803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myheroesrbands/pseuds/myheroesrbands
Summary: Katara and Aang were finally wed. Hakoda was happy. He would be even happier if he could find Bato in the midst of all the guests.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Bato/Hakoda (Avatar)
Series: BakodaFleetWeek 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1852546
Comments: 8
Kudos: 84
Collections: Bakoda Fleet Week 2020





	A Love Story (Starring You and Me)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi hello this _is_ a day late and I apologize greatly but I'm hoping to have the free day fic up either tomorrow (Monday) or the day after. This title is derived from Heartbreak on the Big Screen by 5 Seconds of Summer. I hope you all enjoy this !

Hakoda watched with an immense sense of pride as Katara and Aang welcomed the guests to their wedding ceremony. It’d taken a lot of convincing (and a lot of uncomfortable talks) but Aang finally worked up the courage to ask Katara to marry him. While he and Hakoda spent several days going over carvings and even though he couldn’t get it just the way he wanted it, Hakoda figured Katara would love the betrothal necklace all the same (squiggles and all).

There were several guests at the ceremony — mostly Northern Water Tribe nobles that wished to observe a  _ true  _ Southern Water Tribe marriage ceremony. Hakoda had complained about their insistence on being at the ceremony to Bato for hours. 

He complained about Pakku for even longer. 

The waterbending master was in charge of leading the Southern Reconstruction Project. Or the  _ waterbending  _ subset of it at least. 

And Hakoda wouldn’t have had a problem with that if the man weren’t a major  _ dick.  _

He’d been incredibly disrespectful to Bato ever since he arrived at Southern shores. He’d run right to his  _ mother  _ when he spotted her in town (which was  _ beyond  _ insulting). He’d sat in meetings and shunned all of Hakoda’s proposed locations for a waterbending school.

Bless the elders but if Pakku didn’t back off anytime soon, Hakoda would not hesitate to hit the man if necessary. 

Hakoda locked eyes with his mother who was sitting next to one of his old buddies from before the war. The two of them weren’t interacting so Hakoda shot his mother a quick smile. She smiled in return and turned her head to her right. 

Following her line of sight, Hakoda spotted his daughter, who was now standing alone, taking a sip from her drink. He couldn’t have his baby girl standing alone on her wedding night, so he made his way over to where she was standing. 

“Tell me you know how to dance? I’m looking for this smooth strutter and I got pointed in this direction,” Hakoda said and smiled when Katara laughed at his question. 

“Come on,” she said, and they moved to the center of the floor to dance. The surrounding people cleared a path for the Chief and his daughter. Hakoda sighed as he and Katara began to slowly move to the music Iroh had begun playing with his band. 

“You happy?” He whispered to her. He'd asked her this question several times but felt like if he wasn't asking her, her answer would change. Her head was pressed against his shoulder and Hakoda couldn’t remember  _ when  _ she’d gotten so tall. It seemed as if it was only yesterday when his little girl was only as tall as his waist. His nostalgic thoughts were interrupted by her response. 

“I love him, dad.” And Hakoda felt his heart swell with appreciation. After everything she had endured — at the hands of the fire nation, at his  _ own  _ abandonment — she deserved to be happy. She deserved to feel love. She deserved to move into a life with someone that cared for her deeply. 

“Good. I’m happy for you both. But remember,” he started, his voice carrying a warning that was only partially serious. “If he calls me sir one more time he’s no longer allowed to dinner.” Katara laughed at that and Hakoda allowed a chuckle to escape him as well. Aang, ever the model son-in-law had yet to break out of the habit of calling Hakoda “sir” or “Chief sir”. It was adorable and Hakoda and Bato definitely had some hearty laughs at how the kid fumbled over his words. 

Katara was still smiling as she looked over Hakoda’s shoulder. He knew that if he turned around he’d find her husband. Doing what? He couldn’t be sure. 

“Go,” he said, moving to separate their bodies. “You’re too lovesick for him to keep hold of your old man,” he said with a smirk and nodded with encouragement as Katara let out a series of thank you’s. He turned to watch her leave and watched as she wrapped her arms around Aang’s shoulders, startling him. 

Not wanting to pry, Hakoda turned his eyes away from the newly-weds and instead went about his search for his own husband. 

Bato and Hakoda’s marriage hadn’t been as big a gathering as his daughter’s (and for the love of all things sacred Hakoda was  _ so  _ grateful for that). They’d been wed in a small ceremony, only Kanna and the kids there as witnesses. 

Their relationship had been rocky given the war but at the end of the day, they both understood that they loved each other too much to live a life apart. And although it may have been great being single, Hakoda couldn’t think of any other person he would want to spend the rest of his days with. 

After a minute of searching inside with no sign of Bato anywhere, Hakoda settled to stepping outside in the cool air to find his love and turning to his right, he spotted dark brown hair moving in the wind. 

With a smile covering his face, Hakoda moved to wrap his arms around Bato’s middle. 

“Hey,” he said into the taller man’s coat. 

Maybe a piece of hair was tickling his forehead but Hakoda just sighed thinking about how Bato would be asking him to cut his hair in a few days. 

“Hey yourself,” Bato replied, still looking out at the city. The Southern Water Tribe had a  _ city  _ and Bato was watching the people move through the snow, and he spotted some kids throwing snowballs at each other. 

“What are you doing out here all alone handsome?” Hakoda asked and proceeded to stand at Bato’s right side, his left arm still wrapped around Bato’s waist. Bato’s right arm came to rest on Hakoda’s shoulders and Hakoda felt his stomach flutter at the contact. 

Every time Bato touched him, Hakoda felt his body light up like the night sky. It was strange but never unwelcome. 

“I could ask you the same thing,” Bato said, finally tearing his eyes away from the folks outside to look down at his husband. Because Hakoda was his  _ husband,  _ and they were  _ married,  _ and they’d finally reached a point where they could be in love without a care in the world. 

Hakoda nuzzled his head into Bato’s chest, the height difference between them providing the perfect pillow. “Was looking for you,” he mumbled, the words partially muffled by Bato’s coat but the howling wind wasn’t helping either. Hakoda felt Bato’s hand move up and down his arm.

“Come on. It’s cold out here.” Leading them inside, Bato noticed the small pout that covered Hakoda’s face and smiled before lightly smacking the hair below his wolftail. 

They spotted the table where Kanna was sitting — Pakku at her side, but they both elected to ignore him — and moved there to drop off their coats. 

Hakoda pressed a kiss to his mother’s cheek. “Mother,” he said and only barely nodded to show he acknowledged Pakku’s presence. Bato reached down to give Kanna and followed behind Hakoda who was walking to the middle of the floor.

There were still several couples out dancing and Hakoda turned around to look at Bato with a smirk on his face and suggestive eyebrow movements. Laughing, Bato accepted Hakoda’s offered hand and pulled Hakoda to his chest. 

“You think he realizes we hate him yet?” Hakoda muttered, the side of his face pressed against the area right above Bato’s heart. Bato hummed in response, neither confirming nor denying the statement but Hakoda knew that Bato believed the affirmative. He smirked and let his eyes flutter closed. 

They danced for several minutes until Bato’s aching muscles got the best of them but if he could, Bato would have held Hakoda in his arms like that for the rest of the night.

“You know you have to give a speech right?” Bato asked once he’d sat down, Hakoda sitting in a seat in front of him and softly massaging his left hand. 

Hakoda really hated that this ceremony had so many people here. 

He sighed, raising Bato’s hand up to his lips to kiss the back of it before rising. “You know I hate that right?” He whispered into Bato’s ear before pressing a kiss to the side of his head and Bato shook his head fondly as he watched Hakoda walk away. 

By the time Hakoda finished his speech — blah blah something about the Northern Water Tribe always being welcome, everything about Katara and Aang, the end of the war, etc. — Bato’s muscles had stopped aching, but he could only very slowly move his left hand. 

Hakoda took his seat next to Bato and reached one of his hands over to grasp Bato’s left hand. A smile covered his face as the ceremony continued. When the formalities were finally over, Hakoda stood, dragging Bato along with him without bidding his mother farewell. 

The Southern Reconstruction Project brought about new incredible attractions. One of Hakoda’s favorites was the pavilion toward the end of the central area. While there was nothing spectacular about the structure itself, Hakoda enjoyed the location and the way he could be both outsides and inside at once. 

“Dance with me?” Hakoda asked and Bato inquisitively raised an eyebrow before wrapping his arms around Hakoda’s waist as the shorter man’s arms came up to rest on his shoulders. The two of them simply moved in time. No music could be heard from where they were but Bato guessed that some song was playing in Hakoda’s mind that kept him moving. 

His suspicion was confirmed when Hakoda started humming a tune. There was no direction to it, and Bato found it unfamiliar but comforting. 

“I still don’t get why you love it out here,” Bato whispered and smiled down at Hakoda when his blue eyes flittered up to his own. 

Hakoda smiled, ever the sap, and said, “You’re here so it’s better.”

Just like all things in his life were — better when Bato was there. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you spotted the John Mulaney reference, we're automatically friends.


End file.
